Barbara Oldham

Barbara Oldham

Adjunct Professor, French Horn

Barbara Oldham is a founding member and director of Quintet of the Americas, an internationally known woodwind quintet that specializes in commissioning, performing and recording chamber music of the Western hemisphere. She has performed in hundreds of concerts in tours across the United States, South America, the Caribbean and Europe. Her other appearances as a chamber recitalist include performances with Chamber Music Northwest, the Marlboro Music Festival, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble and Festival Brass. She has presented recitals at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and the American Landmark Festivals, and as a soloist at the Westchester Chamber Music Festival and with the Contreras Chamber Ensemble.

She was the recipient of a 1999 Brooklyn Arts Council Individual Artist Grant for a series of recitals in Brooklyn. From 1976 to 1977 she was principal horn of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Colombia in Bogotá. She is a member of the Queens Symphony and the West End Symphony, a group that performs for children, and is principal horn with Opera Northeast. Also active as a freelance player, she has performed with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Long Island Philharmonic, Radio City Music Hall, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Joffrey Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and on Broadway for West Side Story, Woman of the Year, Cats and Aspects of Love. In fall 1996, she was invited and served as guest principal horn with the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic.

Her activities include researching repertoire from Latin America and developing educational programs and workshops. She has served on the Music Advisory Board of the Americas Society in New York City, and the Latin American Music Committee of the Queens Symphony. In addition to Brooklyn College, she is an adjunct faculty member at New York University, coaches Summer Trios, and has taught beginning band to elementary school students in a public school in Brooklyn as part of Project Arts. She holds a bachelor of music degree from Miami University (Ohio) and a master of music degree from Manhattan School of Music.